Redskin drops overstated and other observations about Sunday's game.

[zulater]

The Redskins were initially credited with 10 dropped passes — Santana Moss four, Josh Morgan two and Leonard Hankerson, Chris Cooley, Evan Royster and Darrel Young one each. In reality, they had seven, but a lot of those were aided by Steelers’ defenders. Will Allen tipped one and dislodged another. Keenan Lewis’ hit on Morgan forced him into a drop. Brett Keisel got his hand in the way of Royster, prompting him not to hold onto a pass. And tight coverage from Cortez Allen and Ike Taylor forced Moss into a drop. Add two poor passes — one to Morgan and another to Moss — and it looked a lot worse for Redskins receivers than it really was.

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Let me add to this that several of the drops were of little or no consequense. For example two of the "drops" came on the same possession the Skins scored their first touchdown on. Both within 4 snaps of that touchdown in fact. So how exactly did those "drops" influence the final result? Also the last drop was by Santana Moss on a 4th down play where he was clearly in the grasp of two Steelers defenders well short of first down yardage. So again how did that impact the game? One other came on a swing pass in the back field that would have netted about a 2 yard loss if caught. Another was in the waning moments of the first half that would have resulted in the Skins getting a first down at their own 31. But given the overall game situation it's hard to surmise that drop prevented Redskin points. Also a couple of the drops came as a result of passes being thrown behind receivers or with poor touch due to pressure being excerted from the Steelers pass rush.

Truth be told the most damaging drop of the game was probably Emanuel Sanders drop of a perfectly thrown ball by Big Ben on a 3rd and 6 play in the 4th quarter. Had he caught that ball the Steelers would have maintained possession inside Redskins territory rather than being forced to punt.

[BnG_Hevn]

<quote>So how exactly did those "drops" influence the final result?</quote>

Butterfly effect. If they catch those passes, it influences what they do on the following play which effects the following play etc. Who knows, maybe if they catch one then while that player is running, a starting defender gets hurt while trying to tackle which puts the Steelers at a disadvantage for the rest of the game.

Every play, regardless of what the result of THAT play is, influences the game.

[zulater]

<quote>So how exactly did those "drops" influence the final result?</quote>

Butterfly effect. If they catch those passes, it influences what they do on the following play which effects the following play etc. Who knows, maybe if they catch one then while that player is running, a starting defender gets hurt while trying to tackle which puts the Steelers at a disadvantage for the rest of the game.

Every play, regardless of what the result of THAT play is, influences the game.

A bit far fetched. The point is if you drop a pass, but on the very next play your team scores the TD it falls under the heading of no harm no foul.

Regardless, the Steelers influenced many of those so called drops by making contact with the ball or the receiver as the ball arrived or a milisecond later. Also they forced RG 3 into hurried passes that were easier to drop than to catch.

By the way how did the 4th down drop by Moss affect anything, as he was clearly in control of Steelers defenders and well short of the first down marker?